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"We asked for signs / the signs were sent: / the birth betrayed / the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood / of every government -- signs for all to see" Anthem" - Leonard Cohen
Along with Youth - Poems Before In Our Time: Two songs & seven poems. I try to make everything that we do in our class have lots and lots of connections. These poems (and songs) not only give us practice in analyzing poetry - but they also give a way to connect with the prose that it is to follow. As per usual, the class is broken up into groups - since there are only seven poems - groups may be as big as 4 students - they get into their groups, read through the poem - interpret it - and then report back to us (after reading the poem aloud for us) what they came up with. For the songs, we will listen and I will ask some questions or point things out as we listen. Finally, the poem and song titles can be found on their bookmarks that they keep in their books as they read - a constant reminder of what we did and the connections that are out there.
Lesson Overview (see also poems with notes)
Lesson Overview (see also poems with notes)
No quiz today and you need to get started right away. I usually stand at the door and give the handout with the poems to the students as they enter (and tell them to start looking at it right away). For more specifics on the actual poems and songs - see the notes below next to the Poems & Songs handout and the notes on my Lesson Notes on the Poems (in my handwriting - also found below)
As with most (though not the last) Poems Before, break the students into small groups (it is usually best and quickest if you do this by just pointing. There are 7 poems to be distributed, and some of the poems are large - so you will be making the groups larger than the 2-3 students in past assignments of this type. You should encourage groups to split the especially long poems (and give these more students) into sections - tackled by mini-groups within their group.
Give the students about 5-8 minutes to prepare their poems - you will need the rest of the time to go over them (and listen to the songs) as a class. Once they are done (or time is up) - you can begin tackling the poems together. By now, being the 6th time I've done poems before a book this way - the students are much more comfortable - and you'll be surprised how quickly they get through it - but even more - how intelligent their interpretation is.
Once you begin the discussion, remind students that they are to write notes directly on their handouts as the group is reading the poem aloud (always how they should begin their presentation). Anything is fine - but as always with poetry - What is the story? What is taking place? See my page On Poetry. They can link it to other things - but first we need to figure out what's happening in the poem. Here are the poems and songs See the PDF of my copy of the Poems with my Notes - for my take on the poems - the things I'd be sure to bring up.
Peace IN OUR TIME - quote from book of common prayer (as a class).
"The Boxer" Song by Simon & Garfunkel - listen and ask questions
"The Next War" by Robert Graves - Group 1
"A Child's Nightmare" by Robert Graves - Group 2
"The Wounded Bullfighter" by Clarence Major. Group 3
"Anthem" a Song by Leonard Cohen - listen and ask questions
"Throw a Stone in The Water, See the Ripples Spread" by Barbara Crooker - Group 4
"it may not always be so" e e cummings - Group 5
"The Child is the Father of the Man" by William Wordsworth - read the quote and ask students what it means
"Along with Youth" by Ernest Hemings - Group 6
"Home" by Warsan Shire - Group 7
The bookmark for this novel has the titles of the poems on it - so it will bring this class - these ideas to the forefront as they are doing their reading. At the end of class, remind them of what is due- there will be a quiz - and to follow their bookmarks (which have those titles from the poems on them) and read ahead.
The Poems (and songs) with my notes see below for student handout
The Poems (and songs) with my notes see below for student handout
The Poems with my Notes: PDF - This was done on an earlier incarnation of the poems before In Our Time - but most of the poems in the handout below are also here. Obviously, every teacher, just as every student will have a different take on these poems and songs (just as I would expect them to add and subtract their own verse). I believe these poems and song compliment what is happening in the next lesson - note there are no notes for the last page of this packet as they are revisited poems (and a text).
Handout - Poems & Songs (most recent)
Handout - Poems & Songs (most recent)
Poems & Songs before In Our Time: Docx PDF
The novel, In Our Time, has many settings, many ideas, and many themes. The poems - as always - cover some of the ideas and themes that will be encountered in the book. Some of these include - leaving behind your childhood, where is home, bullfighting, war, and the effects of what happens to us when we are you - on what we become when we are older.
In most of my handouts that have text to be analyzed - I make sure to leave a wide margin for the students to write notes (both as they're reading and as we talk about the texts as a class). I will usually have these on a desk by the door and students will grab or be given one as they enter the room. These poems are given plenty of room for students to take notes on.
Bookmark with Poem Titles on the Back Docx PDF
In Our Time Song Playlist
In Our Time Song Playlist
The first two songs are the ones that can be found on the handout and the remainder are really good candidates that I will try to sneak into the beginning or end of classtime during this unit.
The songs are: The Boxer, Anthem, Think of You, Little Boxes (3 versions), Someone like you.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
These poems - really work well in a Remote setting. You do have to make sure that you have remote grouping set up.
PoemsandSongsbeforeInOurTime_2017.m4aClass Recordings
Class Recordings
Audio of our discussion of Poems before In Our Time.
Audio of our discussion of Poems before In Our Time.
As we usually do with poems before novels - we divide into groups and then come back and read and report what we've learned from the poems. These poems from cummings, Hemingway, and others deal with matadors, childhood, ripples in the pond and more. Make sure you print the poems out and take notes on them as you are listening.
Fact & Fiction: "On the Quai at Smyrna" Group Work: As I've mentioned before, this course used to be World Literature / Journalism. In Our Time was the perfect book as it was written by an author who did both (Literature and Journalism). Originally I tied a beautiful article by Ernie Pyle into this group work. When the course became solely World Literature, the emphasis shifted away from Journalism. And yet... The idea of fiction and nonfiction being two absolutes is often rooted in students' (and some adults as well) minds. This very short story from "In Our Time" accompanied by an article that Hemingway wrote for the Toronto Daily Star - on the exact same incident (Greek refugees in Turkey) gives students the chance to see how closely fact can be to fiction.
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
There is a certain sadness when teaching this book - the students are (as should be unexpected) how much Hemingway's text (and the poems and songs we do today) are directly about what is happening in their lives. As their teacher, it is impossible to miss.
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